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Pretoria — A group rallying support for convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius is hoping for leniency when he is sentenced in June. The group, headed by Don Hassett, gathered outside the High Court in Pretoria, where Pistorius was expected to appear briefly yesterday to have his sentencing proceedings postponed.Hassett said the support group had followed Pistorius’s trial closely.
“We’re here to support Oscar. We’ve been following him from day one and we followed the trial. It has been a trial by media and it should never have been televised,” she said.
“We see the hatred the media has generated against Oscar.” Hassett said Pistorius had been contrite for shooting Reeva Steenkamp, which she described as a “tragic accident”.
“He knows it was wrong and he has admitted that. We believe it was a tragic accident. We’ve the utmost sympathy for the Steenkamp family, but if people realise it was an accident … everyone in South Africa lives in fear,” she said.
“Many of us believe that the culpable homicide verdict was a suitable finding. We hope that when Judge Masipha sentences him she’ll be lenient and consider the time he has already served.”
Meanwhile, Pistorius’s health has been placed in question on the eve of what was expected to be a brief appearance in the High Court in Pretoria yesterday. Pistorius, who shot and killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, wants the court to postpone his sentencing hearing to between June 13 and June 17.
Yesterday morning, SABC News reporter Chriselda Lewis tweeted that Pistorius was taken to hospital at the weekend. Pistorius family spokesperson Anneliese Burgess said while she had received several requests for information, she too was in the dark.
“I’ve asked the family for more information but at the moment I know nothing about him being in hospital. I’m sure that getting back to me isn’t a priority at the moment for them [the Pistorius family],” she said.
A later response from Burgess lent some credence to claims that the athlete was hospitalised, saying that the family would not comment as this was a “private matter”. Department of Correctional Services spokesperson Manelisi Wolela could not be reached for comment.
Pistorius served one-sixth of his five-year sentence in prison and was released in October to serve the remainder under correctional supervision. — AP
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